The personal care and cleaning products industry is a $235.94 billion dollar global market, with countless products used daily for hygiene, cleanliness, and home maintenance.

In fact, the detergent market alone is worth INR 45,000 crores in India, while the hand wash market is at INR 2,000 crores.

But did you know that most of them contain 80-85% water and are packaged in single-use plastic?

Globally, companies like Blue Land in the US have begun addressing this problem by creating products that eliminate unnecessary water and reduce plastic usage.

In India, the sustainable products segment is still nascent but growing steadily, driven by increasing environmental consciousness and demand for eco-friendly alternatives.

With a massive urban population and expanding middle class, India presents a significant opportunity for brands offering practical and environmentally responsible solutions.

Waterwise, a promising new entrant in India, is attempting to disrupt this industry by offering waterless, sustainable products that maintain the same functionality as traditional products while significantly reducing plastic waste.

Let’s look at their start-up journey!

Founding Story:

Waterwise is the brainchild of Varun Vasani and Rishabhraj Shetty, college friends and chemical engineers.

After completing their education, both pursued different career paths - Varun working in Bangalore and Rishabh in Pune.

But the COVID-19 lockdown brought them back, where they both started working for their fathers' businesses.

However, the duo always harbored dreams of building something of their own, a vision that would eventually lead them to eventually create Waterwise.

Their entrepreneurial journey began with the founding of Alchemy Labs in December 2021, a company that traded lab chemicals and equipment.

This venture gave them valuable hands-on experience in running a business.

As they continued to brainstorm other business ideas, they were struck by the inefficiency and environmental toll of water-laden cleaning and personal care products.

This realization set them on the path to creating Waterwise.

When Waterwise was formed, another co-founder, Aakash, joined them in the venture.

He helped them with technical expertise to formulate the prototype, along with brainstorming for all that went behind creating Waterwise.

The Problem and the Solution:

One of the main insights that led to the creation of Waterwise was the realization that cleaning and personal care products are predominantly composed of water, making them unnecessarily bulky and reliant on single-use plastic packaging.

Consumers were basically shipping water across vast distances when they could easily add it themselves.

Not only did this insight offer a way to drastically reduce plastic waste, but it also had the potential to make products more compact, lowering transportation costs and making them easier for consumers to travel with.

Their goal was simple yet profound: eliminate water from products like hand wash and detergent to create compact, eco-friendly alternatives that would appeal to environmentally-conscious and convenience-centric consumers.

Additionally, they aimed to make sustainability more accessible by ensuring that their products were affordable and maintained the same efficacy as traditional offerings.

To solve the problem, they spent 6-8 months in a small lab working on prototypes.